The Evangelim Dog Pound--(Wo)Man's Best Friend

There are times in your life when the Lord allows you a glimpse into dedication, loyalty and faithfulness...all attributed to man's best friend. Well, I have the best of it all--the ultimate Friend, Christ, who displays His awesome love for me through providing dear, wonderfully talented sisters-in-Christ. The type of sisters you wouldn't trade for a big, beautiful yacht, a fast, racy Jag....or all of the Twinkies in the world! One such sister is Peggy Jo--who has been the star pooch in our Evangelism Dog Pound class on... well, evangelism.

I missed last Wednesday night because one of my pup's was sick and she, in her graciousness, though her life is very full and busy now, wrote a blurb so this blog could maintain a faithful summary of the night's activities. I post this with much thanks and love for her!!

"I love you, dear friend and I do believe there'll be an extra doggy treat in heaven for you... better than rawhide! :) Love you, PJo!!!"

Peggy Jo Style:

This past Wednesday evening, Grace Evangelism covered the issue of conviction when presenting the Gospel. Frank used the three elements of the Law: moral, ceremonial and civil, to show the importance of pointing the hearer to their sin through the conviction of breaking God's Laws, the 10 commandments. (Romans 3:20b). This lesson was a natural outflow of the last class, when most found that while role playing, it was more natural to begin with a discussion of sin, in explaining the gospel. But the question that arose was how to deal with a hearer that has no idea of what sin is or whether they are a sinner.

We discussed the need to use God's Moral Laws or the 10 Commandments, to speak directly to the conscience of the person to whom we are witnessing. (Romans 2:15), the purpose of the Law, to leave the sinner speechless and without excuse, and accountable to God. Through Christ's being the fulfillment of the Law Frank noted that we no longer have a need to practice ceremonial laws like cleansing rituals, nor do we have to practice Jewish Old Testament Law, like the rules for gleaning the fields. (Ephesians 2:11-19). Yet, Frank pointed out that the practice of the Moral Law endures. Frank stated that in Romans 2, under the Law of God the Jew is without excuse because of God's written Law and the Gentile is without excuse because God's Law is written upon his heart. If the hearer then shuts his mouth before God's Law and admits his guilt, the Grace of the Gospel is at work. At this point Frank introduced a method of questioning the hearer about God's Laws, in order to show them their sin. You can google "The Way of the Master," and check this out in more detail.

In short, you ask the hearer if they consider themselves a good person, then begin to ask them if they have kept the 10 Commandments, listing the commandments one by one. You bring the hearer to the point of having to admit that they are a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart. You then ask the hearer if they would be innocent or guilty, if judged according to the 10 Commandments. And, then ask if they would go to heaven or hell. Once the hearer admits their guilt and realizes God's judgement, it is then a natural progression to continue with what the class has already learned about Christ as Savior and the need for the hearer to repent and believe.

We watched some video footage of The Way of the Master, with the interviewers questioning people in this manner. I thought it was very helpful to see the different reactions and answers that people gave, and how the interviewer handled the responses. As always, this course continues to give me more and more confidence, excitement and compassion in sharing God's revealed Word with other people, knowing that God's Word is being sewn and that God will do the watering.

"Just one remaining question, when will you be getting your own blog!?"

[Editor's Note: If you have ever wondered what true Christian sisterhood is...follow this. Get married, have three children, move to CT, go to a new church plant, hang out for a year, meet a new family, have them over for the occasional lunch and homeschool fun, exchange witty, engaging E-mails, pray for each other, love each other, converse with each other, laugh with each other, start a blog, attend a church class on evangelism, blog about the class, have a child get sick, miss the class....enter true sisterhood.]